Chrome Web Store Goes Global, Unveils In-App Payments

Updated. Google has rolled out two new updates to its Chrome Web Store to allow application developers to reach more people — and make more money. The updates were announced during the day-two morning keynote at the Google I/O Developer conference in San Francisco.

The Chrome Web Store is now available in 41 languages to all Chrome users worldwide, Google SVP of Chrome Sundar Pichai said during the keynote. The Chrome Web Store opened to U.S. users in December 2010 and has since seen 17 million application installations, Pichai said.

The Chrome API has been updated to make purchases within apps “extremely frictionless,” Google Payments Product Manager Vikas Gupta said during his portion of the keynote. Developers can now incorporate two-click payment capabilities to their apps with a single line of code, Gupta announced. In addition, Gupta announced the payment capability is available for a 5-percent flat commission, with no sign-up or licensing fees– meaning 95 percent of the app purchase stays with the developer. The new pricing model is aimed at enabling developers to build “amazing businesses” on the Chrome platform, Gupta said. “We wanted to keep it simple.”

Update: During a press Q&A session following the keynote, Engineering VP Linus Upson said Google plans to make the Chrome Web Store available on additional browsers such as Mozilla Firefox. “Stores will be available on more than one browser,” Upson said, although he did not provide concrete details on timing.